Electric Vehicles

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• GM says it plans to invest $1 billion in a plant in Mexico to build electric vehicles.
• SMUD, Sacramento’s electricity provider, is paying people to become certified solar PV installers.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

A study has looked into why about 18% of electric car owners go back to gas-powered vehicles.

The reasons are mostly exactly what we expected.

New York will join the list of states signaling an end to new gas vehicle sales, as a bill banning their sale after 2035 has advanced through the state legislature. It now heads to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s desk where it is expected to be signed.

This bill makes New York State the second US state to pass a gas car ban legislatively, behind Washington State, which set a 2030 target. California and Massachusetts have also set 2035 targets for the end of gas car sales, though those states made their commitments through executive action by their respective governors, Gavin Newsom (D) and Charlie Baker (R).

Electrek spoke with Danielle J. Harris, director of mobility innovation at Elemental Excelerator, about innovative mobility industry solutions, how we can build robust electric infrastructure and encourage the mass adoption of EVs, and the importance of equity and access.

Elemental Excelerator is a Honolulu and East Palo Alto, California-based cleantech startup accelerator that finds and funds mobility startups to work with corporates, community-based organizations, and cities. It catalyzes partnerships to equitably and sustainably advance the transportation industry.

Elemental is currently accepting applications for Cohort 10. More information can be found here. 

When it comes to every part of the automotive industry, it seems that the switch to electric vehicles is set to leave no corner untouched. Until Tesla permanently disrupted the status quo, the world has been building cars for more or less the same way for a century.

It’s the classic American road trip: loading up the family in an RV and hitting the open road. Driving from sunrise to sunset as the miles and the sights pass by your window, your travel partner smiling in the passenger seat.

But imagine if you could trade those gas fill-ups along the way for the satisfaction of power from clean and silent electrons. It’s no dream, my friend! You might actually be able to make it a reality with the electric RV I found for this week’s entry in the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week series. However, there’s a catch: You’ll probably have to leave extra travel companions at home in order to fit in this two seater, three-wheeled electric RV.

In an effort to expedite the country’s transition toward electric vehicles, the South Korean government is lowering the prices of electric vehicles by 2025. This strategy includes implementing electric battery leases for Korean customers. This would cut their initial purchase costs by nearly half.

“Check engine,” “oil level low,” “service engine soon.” These are all dashboard symbols us drivers are familiar with and have previously dreaded when they’re blinking in our faces after we’re already running late. The inrush of electric and hybrid vehicle sales in recent years has made certain dashboard symbols obsolete (bye-bye, oil changes). However, that is not to say that these eco-friendly vehicles don’t have their own unique symbols that drivers, especially those new to EVs, should be aware of.

A new survey shows that once you go electric, you don’t go back as less than 1% of EV owners want to go back to gasoline-powered vehicles.

Community-owned Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) and nonprofit EV advocate Plug In America have partnered up to provide free electric vehicle advice, not only just in Sacramento, but nationwide.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson today released his 10-point plan for a “green industrial revolution” that will create and support up to 250,000 British jobs. One of the 10 points is moving to electric vehicles by 2030. Here’s the government’s plan for the UK electric vehicle transition.

2021 is going to be the year for all-electric cars and should greatly accelerate the electric revolution. There are so many new models hitting the market that it should shift the entire industry.

Here we look at 10 new electric vehicles coming next year:
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With all the loss of lives and financial destruction that the coronavirus has brought us, it’s hard to look at silver linings from this crisis, but there’s one that’s becoming obvious: cleaner air.

It might not last for long, but it’s giving us a glimpse at what we could experience if the world was to rapidly transition to electric transportation.
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International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) today reports that there’s a “good chance” that vehicle manufacturers will be able to meet their 2020/21 CO2 targets in time to avoid paying any penalties. The new optimism is based on incoming January 2020 data. In one shining example, the average CO2 level of new cars in France dropped from 113 g/km in December to 96 g/km in January, a 15% improvement in a single month.
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Representatives Andy Levin (D-MI) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced the Electric Vehicle Freedom Act this week, which would provide federal grants to private businesses to build direct current fast chargers (DCFCs) along US Interstate highways.

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It was hardly a secret that Detroit-Hamtramck would be GM’s assembly plant for electric pickups and SUVs. But with the official announcement moments ago, the American auto industry made a big leap toward its EV future. GM’s storied Detroit-Hamtramck plant ­– where 4 million vehicles have been built over 35 years – from now on will produce nothing but pure battery-electric models of a size and shape most favored by American consumers.

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An 83-minute-long video of a dinner attended by Donald Trump in April 2018 was released today by Lev Parnas.

The video touches on many subjects, many of which been covered elsewhere. But here on Electrek, we are particularly interested in the part starting around minute 57, where there is approximately 15 minutes’ worth of discussion about electric vehicles, alternative fuels, shipping, and autonomous driving.

And almost all of it is nonsense.

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A new California law going into effect in 2020 will encourage low-income motorists to buy an affordable used EV. On Jan. 1, qualifying solo drivers who buy a used electric car can gain access to carpool lanes. The stickers granting access were previously only available for those who bought more expensive new electric vehicles. The change is designed to address concerns that only wealthier people buying high-priced EVs can drive solo in the fast-moving high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lane.

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The experiment to offer battery-electric vehicles by the day or hour is mostly done. Companies such as BlueIndy, Maven, and ShareNow pulled the plug in 2019. These companies, launched with enthusiasm just a couple of years ago, were based on the idea that urban consumers would be eager to access (rather than own) a zero-emissions vehicle for local travel. But the operational costs and complicated logistics outweighed the interest in fledgling services. Maybe people want a private EV after all.

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Nearly half of US states impose fees on EV owners or will consider adding fees in 2020. The ill-conceived idea is to make up for gaps in roadway infrastructure investments usually derived from gasoline taxes. Expect these counter-productive fees to expand in the coming years as the EV market grows. Oregon and Utah are next.

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Imagine walking into a traditional car dealership and having the salesperson take you straight to the EVs. When you ask about the gas cars with lower price tags, the dealer explains that electric cars have a lower total cost, among many other benefits. Why is the dealership pushing electrics? Because it would get a big bonus for selling a vehicle with lower CO2 output. This is precisely what will happen at PSA, Nissan, and other dealerships in Europe starting in 2020.

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